A new documentary, brewery collaborations, local stories, and more capture the increasing community support for restoration of lake sturgeon, a native Great Lakes fish once abundant in Michigan rivers and lakes. These iconic fish can reach 3-6 feet long and 50-150 years old.
After European colonization, a century of overfishing and habitat destruction decimated lake sturgeon populations. Efforts are now underway by many organizations, including Michigan Sea Grant, to restore historical lake sturgeon habitat, raise juvenile fish, release them into Michigan’s rivers, track their success as adults, and generate community enthusiasm.
Michigan Sea Grant has played a major role in reintroducing lake sturgeon to the Saginaw River system. In 2025, Michigan Sea Grant continued coordinating with local, state, and federal partners to hold public riverside releases of juvenile fish. Restoration partners have also fueled community momentum, including partnering with local breweries and giving interviews for a documentary.
To date, partners and community members have helped stock nearly 8,000 lake sturgeon into the four tributaries of the Saginaw River system. Michigan Sea Grant and partners coordinated eight public releases in 2025 for 956 juvenile fish and hundreds of community members. At least four local breweries created commemorative beers to celebrate the 2025 riverside releases and donated portions of the proceeds to support sturgeon restoration. Brews included Oracle Brewing’s “Living Dinosaur” gose and Tenacity Brewing’s “Sturgeon Surge” IPA. The photo on the right shows Barrister Brewery’s offering, “Riparian Rights.”
A new short documentary, Dinosaur Fish, tells the story of Saginaw Bay sturgeon restoration and includes an interview with Michigan Sea Grant Extension Educator Meaghan Gass. The documentary premiered in December 2025 to a packed house in Bay City, on the shores of Saginaw Bay.
Ecologically, the restoration project is working: a lake sturgeon stocked in the Tittabawassee River in 2018 was recaptured and released in October 2025 in the Saginaw River. Public engagement also continues to grow; one community member commented, “The sturgeon release is by far our favorite activity of the summer! My kids talk about it multiple times a year.” Another said that a relative with no previous interest in fish had such a meaningful experience at a prior riverside release that she now routinely volunteers for a local sturgeon festival.
Learn more and join the momentum at www.saginawbaysturgeon.org.
